Throwing A Celebration

Two things to learn from this post:

1. How to celebrate a birthday.

2. How to host a dinner.

1.  One thing that I've taught John in the 9 years that I've known him is how to have a birthday.  He's quite found of my birth-week/month philosophy.  We don't stop at a fun trip.  We celebrate all week long.  Lots of talk about the birthday.  Lots of thinking about what would be fun to eat.  Lots of getting your way.  Lots of focus on how great it is to have a birthday.  Lots and lots of excitement.  

Last night we had our birthday crew friends {minus one family and their strep germs} over for dinner.  John chose the menu: John's favorite pizza, a hearty salad, strawberry custard pies {family secret recipe}, and the Yellow Cake with Candied Lemons and Pistachios that he wanted from Real Simple.

2. About having people over...I'm pretty used to having people in and out of our house, but I have some standards for having people over for dinner: things like, getting the camping gear out off the dining room table and clearing the kitchen counter of dishes.  

Yesterday, I felt sluggish and I was running slightly behind.

I had two things that helped me chill out:

1. I read this post about a hospitality hater who fell in love with hospitality.  Even though I'm pretty calm about having people over, it was great for me to read.  Everyone should read it.

2. I used the iPod.  During Burl's nap, I got so much cleaning done while getting my groove on.  {Warning: too much dancing can distract from cleaning.  Wait a minute-is there really such a thing as "too much dancing."}

All in all, it's about John and making him feel special and loved and celebrated!  By that smile I know that mission accomplished.  Happy 30th, John!